Take a bow

Today marks the second last Monday that I will be attending the Humber College public relations certificate program. I have learned about twitter, Youtube, social networking, PR2.o. I have championed clean trains, advocated for an alcohol free summer and the list goes on and on and on.

It is sad.

Since I was a little girl I have not relished the idea of change. I find it to be rather cumbersome and uncertain. This time around however I find myself looking forward to what comes next in my life. In some ways I have one of my most loved professors, Scott Langdon, to thank for this change in my heart.

Change is something that people look on as very negative, and indeed it can be. The loss of a loved one, a change in address even a new job are all changes that cause pain. What I have come to appreciate this term is change itself. It is still uncertain, and it is still cumbersome but it is also exciting.

Moving forward into my internship and then into the working world I will take the lessons about change with me.

I will also take my CP style book, dictionary and caps and spelling.

I have learned a great deal in the past ten months, met some great new friends and have started to move beyond a fear of change into, at least an acceptance of its inevitability.

Farewell Humber PR. Its been a blast!

Value add at Humber PR at #futurecamp

Humber PR got together this past week to discuss some issues on our minds.

Future Camp on Prezi

How do we add value? How do we stay connected? What advice to you have to future Humber PR students? And perhaps most importantly, what DID we learn this year?

There are so many platforms available to the public these days. You can tweet, blog, facebook, comment, post videos anything you little heart desires!

But how do you add value? Caitlin has compiled a collection of videos that address how some people add value!

Keeping connected in the future is also vastly important. The connections that you make, particularly in school, have the potential to benefit you in the most. Personally I think it is important to be connected and Kiel has a great suggestion for his section! This could be implemented well with 1C as well I think.

What are some of the things that you can do to ensure your contribution is not just noise?!

Well you can contribute authentically for one thing. Make sure that the things that you are saying matter.

Don't talk just for the sake of talking.
That's just silly!

This is one of the biggest things that I learned this semester, it is important to value add, not noise add. Sometimes is it hard to do, you have to be sure to remain authentic to your brand. It seems like I'm not the only one who learned these things, Andrew has some really good things to say about what he learned this year.

We learned so much this past term from our profs and from our classmates, we talked about it and made #futurecamp a trending topic. For some really great people to talk to, follow, tweet check out @shelleyburgoyne, @h_farb, @ZoyaMcGroarty @greenjenschultz or any of my fab #humberpr colleagues.

Clean Trains are what the Red Smarties would do!

Its me again!!

Twice in the same day?!

HOLY CANOLI!!

I wanted to share this slideshare presentation a friend of mine put together. Its really well done and provides allot of information in a short span of time.

Check out Jen's Blog to get some more of her take on things!

So here is her slide share. Enjoy!

The Clean Train Student Coalition

View more presentations from Jennifer Schultz.

Diesel Dumbos

"No one should be asked to trade public health for public transit" David Mckeown

Unfortunately we are. The government wants more loud, polluting and antiquated trains ripping through our city.

Why?

The simple answer is public transit. But there are always more issues at heart. There are the Pan Am Games, a direct link to Pearson of Airport, and some politics. Lets not forget the politics.

At the end of the day Diesel is not a nice thing. The emissions are harmful effecting air quality as a start. Ripping through neighborhoods where young families take the dog for a walk. Brampton is home to a large community of elderly people. It makes you wonder what will happen to these lungs. Things the CTC recognizes as a HUGE problem.

Why spend the money on an electrification study when its already there? Why not take that money and do something about it, instead of just thinking about it.

I had the opportunity to attend the public meeting at City Hall some weeks back and many issues were brought up. Emotions were palpable in the room as each camp stood firmly on their desires. No one was really willing to give, or to talk. It was an "us vs. them" evening that left me feeling slightly unsatisfied.


What struck me was that the majority of those people sitting in that room would not have the opportunity to take a trip on this $20-$30 a ride train. I sure know I won't. The people who Metrolinx wants to bull dose are not the people who serve to benefit from this service.

There is so much information and so much about this issue that needs to be discussed. The point is that these trains are not environmentally friendly, they are not universally accessible and they will do nothing to elevate the city of Toronto. Progress report is important if you want to know.


Getting people on board with eliminating the Diesel from these trains should check out and sign the petition here!!. Check out the web, there is information everywhere about this plan and discussions available from both sides. Educate yourself!!

I don't think eliminating this addition to transit infrastructure is the way to go. I think electrification is. Something that is cleaner, quieter and overall better for the environment and public would do everything these trains do, and more. CTC and the CTSC have Facebook pages and twitter accounts, CTC has a blog Railroaded by Metrolinx that is a good resource, and places to join the conversation, this is not an issue that is going to go away.

This is the only planet we have, shouldn't we take care of it?

New meaning to Talk and Txt

Reading the experiences of other people saves us the headache of finding out for ourselves. Ford caught on to this phenomenon and released their 2010 Ford Fiesta.



Have you seen a billboard?
How about any TV adds?
You haven’t???

Good cuz there aren’t any.

Ford's European social media campaign for the Fiesta

View more presentations from We Are Social .

Ford gave away 100 brand new Ford Fiestas t, with the instructions to blog, tweet, Facebook, Vimeo and all together use their social networks to get the word out about them. The program is called 1 Movement.

Ingenious!

Or is it? What about dissemination of the message? Target audience? Fords image? It could just become a giant game of broken telephone, where everyone takes from it what they want and passes it along.

Ford has handed over the promotional reigns to 100 people who have the social capitol to endorse the product. Using their customers to their best advantage. Not only is the advertising cheaper it also has the potential be more effective. Capitalizing on the recent Toyota fiasco Ford knows that no matter what happens now they are on the right track with this innovative and fun endorsement.

At the end of the day its all about what people talk about! Jen, Shelley, Hayley, Sabrina and Owen each have their own take on this media campaign. So check them out.

Its PR2.0 at its finest!!

You've got Spam

Twitter by nature is friendly.
It has that friendly bird mascot and even when the server is 'down' the whale being hoisted over the ocean is happy you dropped in for a visit.



Unfortunately his name is the Twitter Fail Whale so he's a bit of a Debbie downer.

Twitter is a great tool! It connects you with people and businesses and interests and all the rest in a tidy 140 characters. Send and receive messages, share links, participate in PR2.0.

But OH NO!! Youve got . . . . SPAM!!!!!

In recent weeks tweeters everywhere have been accosted with naughty messages. Suddenly everyone was a horny 23 year old, or on some video somewhere and the variations go on. Generally it was just irritating.

And if you were absent minded enough to open the message then it was all over for you. Your followers got the message and if they opened it their followers got the message and on and on and on.

Thankfully there were people out there nice enough to send instruction on how to rid yourself of this terrible little thing.



Overall it was simple. Delete the offending messages and then change your password.

That's all I had to do? Really?!?!

Its no wonder people and corporations remain resistant to Twitter. If you were one of the unfortunate ones who opened the message and you propositioned all your twitter friends how does that make you look? Not so great!

How can you tell your business they can protect themselves and still access this fantastic tool? Well first of all, don't be a dunce and open fishy messages (oops!), change your password once in a while and other do's and dont's. That's all it takes my friends.

Happy Tweeting!!

What's my Swoosh: Discovering my Personal Brand

The field of Public Relations is exciting and expanding. It is important to be able to sell yourself to a potential employer.

Knowing and understanding what your Personal Brand is will enable you to present yourself thoughtfully and professionally to an employer. It will also help to refine your existing online reputation.

Once you know the answer to "Whats my shoosh" you will be better able to participate in the Public Relations world.

I am a young woman currently studying the field of Public Relations. I have many years of Sales behind me and am always comfortable in front of an audience. Some of the things that I have to offer to a potential employer are highlighted here in my Personal Brand Plan.

Lauren Ramsay Personal Brand. Whats my swoosh.

View more presentations from Humber College.